


Remembering is important

by Ohsoprecious



Series: Vexeris Trevelyan [9]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 17:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6292672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohsoprecious/pseuds/Ohsoprecious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian is acting oddly. And thanks to a night of celebrations of their first dragon slaying, Vexeris doesn't remember why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remembering is important

"Maker, my head.....I feel like someone split my skull open."

The Inquisitor, mighty leader and Herald of Andraste was making a pitiful display, lying in his bed, clutching his head, in a useless attempt at curing his massive headache.

"That's what you get for trying to outdrink a massive qunari, Vex."

Trevelyan moved, trying to focus his eyes on the figure sitting on the orlesian couch near the bed. He couldn't.

All he saw was the vague outline of a man in blue and brown, his arms crossed.

If Dorian hadn't spoken, he wouldn't have known it was him.

"What....happened?"

"Do you remember anything?"

Vexeris faced the wooden canopy above him, red and brown swirling, rubbing his forehead.

_Maker's breath, I can't remember the last time I drank this much._

He frowned, the haze of his mind making it hard to think.

This was why he usually avoided drinking anything more than a few ales or a couple of wine glasses. And even then, the wine was usually just to keep Dorian company. Or stop him from drinking too much.

_I really should talk to him about his drinking habits. Though not while I'm hung over._

_Hypocrisy thy name is Vexeris and all that._

"Vex."

His name cut trough his head, making him wince in pain.

_Blight take him! Why is he so loud?!_

He heard steps and the bed dipping next to him. A warm hand on his forehead and the tingle of magic, easing his headache.

Dorian wasn't a healer by any stretch of imagination, something he knew very well, but that didn't mean he didn't know a few minor spells.

Enough to make him clear somewhat eyed again and calm the horde of stampeding druffalos inside his head.

Trevelyan smiled when he finally managed to recognize his lover's face.

A smile Dorian didn't reciprocate, however.

"You look like shit," he said instead, his eyes hooded.

"Thanks. I'll return the favor the next time I have to carry you to bed, drunk out of your ass."

_Don't antagonize the man who's clearing your blighted head, idiot!_

The mage's face twitched, biting back one of his barbed retorts, but thankfully didn't stop his magic flowing.

Vexeris closed his eyes. Dorian's magic always made him feel safe, protected.

Healing magic, however weak, only accentuated the feeling.

"So, what happened?" he asked, once he could look at Dorian, without the colorful spots of blinding light around his head.

The mage sighted, but even as hung over as he was, Vexeris noticed the way his shoulders tensed.

Or maybe it was the way his magic grew hotter.

"You had one of your grand ideas, that's what happened."

"Huh uh. I'm gonna need a bit more than that, love."

Dorian's magic rippled, dying down as the mage pulled away.

_Ah...Maker, I already miss his touch. I'm starting to sound like a lovesick puppy, even in my own head._

"Do you truly not remember anything?"

There was something else, under that question. Another question Dorian wasn't voicing.

Sometimes Trevelyan wished he couldn't read the mage so well.

Whenever something like this happened, it could be anything, from the silliest thing the mage was simply too embarrassed to mention, to much more important stuff.

Walking on eggshells wasn't something Vexeris had ever been particularly good at.

"I know I went to the tavern. Bull wanted to celebrate killing that high dragon in the Hinterlands. He gave me a......." he pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking," I don't honestly know what he gave me. I remember shouting. Vaguely. Then nothing."

"And that is all?"

"Yeah."

_He's being weird. Why is he so interested in knowing what I remember? Wasn't he there too?_

_Wait, was he?_

"Did you carry me to bed?"

A spark of amusement passed through him, a glimpse at his usual self.

_Progress!_

"You most certainly did not get there by yourself."

"Oh? However shall I repay such graciousness?"

He wasn't used to talking in such a formal way. He'd made it a point, in the past, to blaspheme and cuss every couple of words, rejoicing in the way it made his parents pop a vein for every word uttered.

He'd curbed that habit over the years, ever since he "left" his parents house, but Josephine had still blanched when she'd heard him speak the first time.

_No way I'm going through that lecture again._

Between the Antivan and Dorian's flinching when he swore too much, he'd almost dropped it.  
He still only used formal talk when he was being sarcastic. One must have limits.

"I will inform you when I come up with a proper reward for such an endeavor."

Not that Dorian didn't do the same. Overly formal was however a very clear warning he was irritated at something.

_Did I throw up on him? Possible, I guess._

_He's going to make me grovel, is he?_

He flinched when the mage abruptly sat up, exposing him to the sunlight his body had been shielding him from.

"Stay here. I'm going to see if there's something decent to eat in this castle of yours."

By the time he'd come up with a reply to Dorian's obvious excuse, the mage had already left the room, closing the door behind him.

The Inquisitor didn't get a chance to think on his lover's off behavior, falling asleep again, now that his head wasn't threatening to explode.

When he woke up again, there was a tray of food on the bedside table, with a mug of hot coffee ready. Dorian must have put a spell on it. There was no way it would be still warm otherwise.

Once Dorian had started to feel more confident about their relationship, about it not being a trick or a lie, he'd started to show a different part of himself.

This quiet way of caring had been unexpected, especially considering the way the mage acted, like he was waiting for an applause every time he cast a spell or killed an enemy.

Dinner in his....their quarters, ready by the time he was mysteriously shooed away by one or all his advisors.

His armor, already at the forge, Harritt repairing the damage he'd barely noticed himself.

A history or arcane book, one he'd never read before, waiting for him on his desk.

A hot mug of whatever he was in the mood for, spelled to be just at the perfect temperature.

It had been so subtle, he'd barely noticed it, at first. And Dorian had become bolder over time.

It made him smile, his heart beating just a little faster, whenever he saw these things, these little attentions Dorian never asked to be recognized.  
It made him forget his lover was irritated at some unknown slight he'd done.

Not for very long, however.

Half a day, to be more specific. Thanks to a very puzzling scene.

He'd meant to go to talk to Cassandra, to ask her for advice on a complicated affair, a fight that had erupted a week before between a mage and a former Templar.  
Both women had a valid defense for their actions and the Inquisitor was at a loss on what to do.

When he got to the part of the courtyard the Seeker had claimed for herself, he noticed she wasn't alone. The Iron Bull was there, too, along with Krem.  
But instead of practicing, the qunari was leaning in the stone wall, observing his lieutenant go against the woman.

Odd. Bull letting someone else train one of his men? Krem, even?

"Boss," came the greeting.

Cassandra turned around, her usual scowl briefly replaced by a soft smile, before she remembered herself.

"Letting Cassandra pound on Krem? Do you hate him that much?"

The man grunted, shaking his head.

When he offered no further explanation, Vexeris turned to Cassandra, hoping she might have advice for him.

He didn't manage to however.

Dorian appeared beside him, out of nowhere.

_How did he do that? Even with all the noise, sneaking up on me is....._

"What are you doing?"

_Oh boy. He's hissing. It's never good when he's hissing at me._

_I wonder if I should ask if that's why he likes snakes on his clothes._

_No! Bad Vex! Concentration! Do not compare your angry boyfriend to a snake!_

"I'm.....standing?"

Dorian's eyes darkened. He wasn't in the mood for Vex's humor.

"You should be in bed. You still haven't recovered from whatever you ingested last night."

He should've known better than to argue with the angry mage. Unfortunately Vexeris had never liked people telling him what to do.

"I am fine, Dorian. Relax, will you?"

"You are most certainly not. You need rest after that amount of alcohol. You need to..."

"You are not my mother or my nursemaid. Stop fucking acting like it."

In retrospect that had been too harsh. On any number of levels.

He knew Dorian just wanted to help him. That alcohol could have dangerous effects.

Swearing alone was too much. He'd been trying to stop, but old habits die hard.

But comparing Dorian to his mother was downright cruel, especially since the Tevinter knew what she'd done.

He apologized immediately, his hands reaching out in an attempt to stop the inevitable.

Dorian expression turned to one of hurt and betrayal, before he slammed his emotional shields between them. It would've hurt less if he'd used one of Cassandra's actual ones.

"Fine then. Do what you will. See if I care!"

For the first time in months, Dorian didn't come to bed that night. Nor the following ones.

For five days they barely talked and even then it was a quick and curt affair.

Trevelyan was tempted to just apologize, for everything even if he didn't know what he'd done, apart from that last bit. For that one, he'd asked forgiveness profusely.

And while Dorian claimed it was fine and he wasn't angry for a few harsh words spoken in irritation, he still never came at night. Or during the day.

To make matters worse, nobody remembered anything specific about that night. They'd been all either drunk as well or hadn't been paying attention to what Vexeris was doing.

After the sixth day, the Inquisitor was at the end of his rope. He'd never been a patient man, but planning to go to the library and demanding what the fuck had crawled up Dorian's ass and died was not one of his brightest ideas.

No, it was easily one of the worst. Nor was it an option.

So he did the only thing he could think off. Try and vent it off on some fool who stood on his way.  
He went to the war room, scanned through the reports and once he found something big and vicious to kill, he notified Bull, Cole and Solas, they'd be leaving in a few hours, heading for Crestwood.

His foolproof plan went awry the second he saw Dorian waiting for him, his horse saddled, instead of Cole.

His withering glare challenged him to disagree with his decision. And with Cole nowhere to be seen, he gritted his teeth and rolled with it.

And once he caught sight of the high dragon, he stopped thinking altogether.

"Fuck! I needed that. You're the best, Boss!"

He couldn't help smiling at the big qunari, who was looking at the dead dragon as if it was made of jewels and candy.

"Anything for you, my sweet," he countered, the easy, meaningless flirting that had always been their way, coming out as easy as breathing.

If he'd been facing elsewhere other than the corpse of an angry female lizard, he'd have seen Dorian's eyes growing increasingly stormy.

It all exploded in his face, a few hours later.

"All right people! I'm going to go wash this filth off of me. So, try not to do anything I wouldn't do."

"Need someone to watch your back, Boss?"

Vexeris raised an eyebrow, but smiled.

"I think I can handle myself, Bull."

"Are you sure? I might need a demonstration," he said, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

They'd done this countless times before. Dorian usually snorted or made a disgusted voice.

So when the fireball landed on Iron Bull's chest it was definitely something new.

"Dorian?! What the fuck?"

Solas jumped to action, his hands alight with healing magic, but the qunari waved him off. Between the protection of his armor and the weakness of the spell, he'd barely felt anything.

The Inquisitor was about to demand an explanation, when he registered Dorian's face.

He saw regret, surprise. His eyes flickered between the three of them, mortified.

"Sorry."

The qunari humphed, shaking his horned head in bewilderment. But he stayed silent, only looking at Trevelyan, waiting for his reaction.

But the man was hesitating. He didn't know how to react. Let alone what to say.

The decision was taken from him, as Dorian raised his head, glaring squarely at Bull, anger coming alive again, before looking at his lover.

"He kissed you."

_What? Who did what? When........well, shit._

"I did what?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember, you ox. I can believe him, but I won't believe you."

"Dorian, I don't.....what happened?"

The mage sighted, looking at his feet, but told them what had happened. Or the part that he'd witnessed.

Apparently he'd heard from the gossipmongers in Skyhold, that their beloved Herald was making a fool out of himself at the tavern.

"You told me you would be late. That you had plans to celebrate the dragon hunting. But I was...worried, so I thought I'd come by."

He told them he found Trevelyan drunk, draped over Bull, unable to even sit upright on his own.  
Meaning to get him out of there and to his quarters, he'd stepped forward. Just in time to see the qunari, also quite drunk, but still somewhat conscious, gulp down the last of whatever concoction was in the bottle he was holding, practically pulling Vexeris on his lap and kissing him, forcing him to open his mouth, shoving his tongue inside.

"The only reason I didn't just leave you there, was because you mumbled my name. I only realized just how drunk you were after I managed to get you away from him," he said, with no small amount of spite.

"Huh......I guess that explains why you wanted to know what I remembered so badly."

But Dorian wasn't looking at him. It was debatable whether he was even listening to him. All his attention was focused on the qunari.

"Look, Vint I don't remember either. I drank so much I had a pounding headache all day long."

"Truly? I seem to recall you claiming to being able to hold an impressive amount of alcohol."

Bull twitched.

"All right. Fine. I do remember. Barely. I've never denied my attraction to him. Or you. What can I say? My inhibitions were gone."

"What can you say? What can you say? Is that the best excuse a man named liar can come up with?"

"No. I thought you'd prefer the truth instead of a lie."

Dorian scowled, giving one least angry look at Bull and stalked away, his robe fluttering.

"Maker....."

"Sorry Boss," he said. Vexeris didn't think he'd seen the qunari so mortified. Or ever, really.

"No, it's......shit, what am I going to say to him?"

"If I might offer some advice," started Solas, who had decided to join the conversation, despite the fact he looked completely uninterested in the whole thing," you should start by asking him what bothers him the most."

"What do you mean? And since when do you give out relationship advice?"

"I have seen many relationships play out on the Fade. The fact of the matter is you did nothing wrong. Alcohol makes fools out of the best of us. And Dorian knows that well."

  
He found Dorian sitting on a log, not too far away, turned away from him.

"Dorian. Talk to me, please."

The mage's head turned around, only just, before facing forward again.

"Love, you know I...."

"I know," he said curtly.

"Then what is it?"

"I....when I saw......I wanted to hurt him. For touching.....you. I thought....he's mine. I...shouldn't think that of another person."

He wasn't sure where Dorian was going with this, so he stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. If he did.

"People don't belong to other people. Especially not you."

"Dorian, it's...."  
The mage stood up, suddenly enraged, waving his hands around while he talked, like he always did when he was upset.

"Can you imagine what would happen if people heard something like that? Maker I don't even......it's wrong. I shouldn't have even thought it. It was wrong of me."

_He's talking about slavery. Maker, sometimes I forget he's from Tevinter._

"Dorian...." he started, coming closer to his lover, trying to get a hold of him.

"And it's all I can think about. Every time I close my eyes I see that fucking qunari kissing what's mine and it's wrong because you don't belong to me or anyone."

_I never thought he'd have this hangup. Out of all the possibilities, I never thought this would be one of his issues._

"I do. Belong to you," Vex said, finally managing to grasp the mage's hands, intertwining their fingers.

"No! Maker, how do you even..."

"Just as much as you belong to me. We belong to each other. And it's not because it was forced on us or there was no other choice. People can choose to give that power to another person. It's part of being....together. It has nothing to with your homeland's view of ownership."

Dorian looked at him wide-eyed, but Vexeris took his firm grip around his own hands as a good sign.

"You say that so easily. In Tevinter you can't give up even an inch of yourself, to anyone. An Altus has power over everyone else. He can't afford to give any of it away."

"But you're not in Tevinter. And a relationship.....the beauty and danger of it, is trusting someone to have so much power over you. The power to destroy you, but also the key to happiness. So...I'm sorry I was so drunk I couldn't stop Bull. I'm sorry you had to see that. But I'm not sorry you consider me, yours. I kind of wish I’d been conscious enough to see that."

"I didn't actually say it loud, _amatus_."

"Shame."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've always imagined Dorian would have problems feeling jealous. This is what came of it.


End file.
